Biography

Matthew is the son of Margaret and Hon. Vito J. Titone, Staten Island's only New York State Court of Appeals Judge. A lifelong Staten Islander, Matthew grew up in the Grymes Hill and West Brighton communities.

While attending St. John's University School of Law, Matthew worked full time as a law clerk for the late John S. Zachary, Esq. Upon his admission to the New York State Bar in 1992, Matthew immediately began doing pro bono work for the Staten Island AIDS Task Force and Project Hospitality. In late 1993, he was named the Senior Trial Associate for the prestigious Wall Street firm of Morgan, Melhuish, Monahan, Arvidson, Abrutyn & Lisowski, and managed the firm's complex Labor Law litigation department, and litigated Insurance Law and Professional Malpractice Liability cases. He left the firm in 1998 to open his own private law practice on Staten Island.

Throughout his career, Matthew consistently provided pro bono services to those who couldn't afford legal representation. His efforts aided Project Hospitality in creating a full-time professionally staffed legal service department. Matthew serves on the Board of Directors of Community Health Action of Staten Island (f/k/a the Staten Island AIDS Task Force), and has also served on the Board of Trustees for Legal Services of New York, providing oversight on the Legal Aid Society, amongst others.

Matthew garnered national attention when he took on the New York State adoption industry representing a family who adopted a baby boy. The family was never informed by the adoption agency that the child was born with the AIDS virus and resulted in the child being untreated for his illness for eleven years after the adoption was completed. Not only did Matthew provide legal support and guidance for the family, he also helped the young man establish the Justin LiGreci HIV/AIDS Foundation for Children and Teens, a not for profit organization that provides educational services to the youth of Staten Island and New York metropolitan area.

Matthew's civic participation includes his leadership at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and in 1998, Matthew joined the Board of Trustees at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center. He also served on a number of its committees, including briefly serving as Interim President & C.E.O. He presently chairs the Merger Committee overseeing the merger of Snug Harbor Cultural Center with the Staten Island Botanical Garden.

Matthew is an active member of the Richmond County Bar Association, Federal Club Member of the Human Rights Campaign, Wagner College's DaVinci Society, the Loughlin Society of St. John's University, and St. John's University School of Law Alumni Society. Matthew was instrumental in enabling St. John's University to endow a scholarship in his late father's name to benefit Staten Island residents attending the school.

In 2004, he was the recipient of the Community Health Action of Staten Island's Philanthropic Leadership Award.